Happy New Year!

 Hola a todos y un feliz año nuevo! 

 It’s so crazy to think we are in 2021. I feel like just yesterday I was in Ecuador. That was almost a year ago! Crazy how time works. 

 This week we did a lot of contacting and it paid off. On Tuesday we had meetings in the morning until 2 and we were able to go out with a member and walk the streets for a few hours. She knew like everyone we talked to. It was pretty cool.  Later that night we had a lesson with 3 guys that all work together. They are all in different stages of what they believe in but were all willing to listen. We gave them a Book of Mormon each and they accepted the challenge to read from it and pray about it. 

 Wednesday we had service in the morning and then a meeting later on so we had little time to contact but talked to some good people. Then had dinner at a member’s house. We had our youth activity later and played some games. 

 Thursday, we went to eat with Elvira in the morning and then went to Walmart to find Martinelli’s. They didn’t have any! Then we went to some lessons. One was Raul. He is helping a buddy remodel his house, so we helped him out for a minute then shared a lesson. He asked a lot of questions. We had to be back in our house by 7 so we went to eat with a member and his family. They made tamales and menudo. For those of you who don’t know, menudo is cow stomach. Then at home we stayed up playing card games till 12 and celebrated New Year’s Ecuador style. 

 Friday, we had district council and then our mission Come Follow Me. After that we all went and got tacos. Then we had some lessons to go to. Invited a lot of people to church! Dad likes to pray for people so here are some names: Vicente, Doria, Juan, Juan, Beatriz, Isaura, Omar, Iram, Armando y fam, Yesenia, Yanelly, Albert, Lilly, Raul, Araceli and fam.

 Saturday, we helped Raul again and then taught him the Restoration. He takes too long to formulate his thoughts, so the lessons go way too long. Then we had lunch and a meeting and then a pass off lesson, but he left right as we pulled up. We ate at Subway with Sister Langestein and then started a Zone fast. 

 Sunday no investigators came to church but some members who haven't come in a while did. They shared their testimonies, and it was awesome. I have really grown to love them so much. We had a Come Follow Me over Zoom and then we went to a member’s house to give them the Sacrament and a blessing. They talked to us forever after. Then we called people from the church while we worked on some Facebook posts. It's been a while since we have done one. After that we had dinner with Anniah and Joe. It was a good way to end our fast. Their daughter was taking lots of pictures of us because she just learned how to use the camera on her mom's phone. 

 Oh I also forgot to mention we have transfers! Elder Jordan and I will be staying and receiving a new elder who will stay with us for a few weeks before going to his assigned area. His name is Elder Taylor. 

 Have a great week!
Elder Tolman